Between the Niles
A Photograph by Muhammed Salah
This is the 159th edition of Tender Photo, a digital platform of African photography.
The tree is pictured at the outset of dusk. It stands at a threshold, a limen, seeming like a benevolent bulwark against the quiet river. The most distinguished of its branches rise upwards, sure but digressive, more so pronounced in each network of springy twigs. The trunk has cast a tender shadow on the stony bank. In all, the golden glow—the momentous light refracted through a mid-size tree—is how the picture reveals its inner fire.
— Emmanuel Iduma
“I've always had this fascination with the thing in front of the camera that was, once upon a time, real.”
The photograph is part of a large and extensive body of work titled “Between The Niles.” The image was taken using a Mamiya 7 with a 43mm lens on Kodak Portra 400 film in 6x7 format.
Since moving away from Khartoum at the beginning of 2020, every visit back has become almost ritualistic—passing by the Nile, washing my face, feet, hair, receiving the water's blessings, drinking some, and waiting until the next time. Just before I took this photograph, we were returning from Omdurman. As we crossed the Iron Bridge linking Khartoum and Omdurman, two cars crashed right ahead of us. Realising this, I hit the brakes quickly and switched on the hazards. But the driver behind didn't react fast enough and crashed into us. My mother, my sister, my friend were all with me. Thankfully everyone was okay, just a slight damage to the car .
It was my last day before traveling, and it felt like a sign, an invitation from the Nile to stop for a moment. We parked the car after the bridge, right next to the Nile. Carrying my camera and a bucket, my friend and I descended the stairs of the bridge down to the water to fetch water for the car. Submerging my feet, washing my face gently, I felt the grace of being close to a Sunut tree (Acacia nilotica). Standing beneath the Acacia's branches, looking up at it, and feeling it look back at me, roots beneath my feet, branches above my head, I took the photograph, sun behind the tree, Nile ahead.
In my work, I've always had this fascination with what Roland Barthes described as “that has been”—the thing in front of the camera that was, once upon a time, real. Before that experience, I had an intimate interest in the Acacia species and their depiction on the pyramids in the Nile Valley civilization, but also their presence in the city and their integral part of being of that place, so the photograph is a vessel of that interest to some extent.
— Muhammed Salah
About Muhammed Salah
Muhammad Salah is a Sudanese photographer and curator whose practice spans moving image, sound, and text. Based between Berlin and Khartoum, Salah's work examines cities, militarism, and how space is organised and experienced. See more of his on his website or Instagram.
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TENDER PHOTO is a digital platform of African photography, founded by Emmanuel Iduma. Our newsletter aims to engage with life on the African continent through photography. We publish narratives about the people, places, and events pictured in photographs, contributing to nuanced and layered perceptions. The newsletter also read on web (best for viewing images), and via the Substack iOS/Android apps.
Every Wednesday we feature a photograph, a short caption about it, and a statement from the photographer. In the past, we have published commentaries or photo-essays in response to photographs previously featured on the newsletter, including CORRESPONDENCES, CONCORDANCE, KINDRED, INDEX, and AFFINITIES.
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beautiful beautiful images
Wow. So moving